7 counters boost MSE in Q2
The 16-counter Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) registered a positive return on index in the second quarter (Q2) as reflected in the upward movement of the Malawi All Share Index (Masi) buoyed by price gains in seven counters.
The latest MSE Market Report for Q2 (April-June) indicates that the shares market was bullish as Masi moved from 32562.96 points in April to 35144.56 points in June on account of price gains in FMBCapital Holdings plc, Illovo Sugar (Malawi) plc, Airtel plc, NBS Bank plc, Nico Holdings plc, NBM plc and Standard Bank plc.
FMBCapital Holdings plc recorded a 120.58 percent jump in its share price followed by Illovo which gained by 30.15 percent and Airtel at16.39 percent.
NBS Bank plc, Nico Holdings plc, NBM plc and Standard Bank plc share prices on the other hand also gained by 14.67 percent, 5.91 percent, 0.005 and 0.002 percent respectively.
Reads the report in part: “These movements impacted the domestic share index, the gauge of domestic counter’s performance, and the foreign share index [FSI] anchored by FMB Capital Holdings plc by 3.71 percent and 100.36 percent respectively.”
According to the report, the market transacted 672.64 million shares at K16.98 billion in 852 trades, a jump from 179.32 million shares traded at a K6.75 billion in 749 trades in the corresponding period of 2020.
This reflects a 275.10 percent increase in terms of share volume and a 151.39 percent increase in share value.
The MSE report further indicates that daily average share trades exhibited similar trends where the market registered an average daily volume of 11 400 840 shares compared to 2 892 322 shares traded in the corresponding second quarter of 2020 reflecting an increase of 294.18 percent.
According to the report, the average daily turnover for the second quarter 2021 was K287.9 million ($360 562.25) compared with K109 million ($147 948.01) for the corresponding second quarter 2020, an increase of 164.17 percent.
Explaining the performance, MSE operations manager Kelline Kanyangala said the increase in trading activity, among others, can be linked to the improvement on account of the gradual reopening of the economy considering the low Covid-19 infection rates in the Q2.
She said: “In addition, we saw more companies publishing their 2020 financial results and some declaring dividends. This definitely also led to some activity on the market.
“Looking ahead, we are quite aware that the surge of the covid-19 third wave poses a downside risk to performance of the market.
“Nonetheless, we are confident that the containment measures put in place by the Ministry of Health will bear fruit and shield the economy and general population from tragic outcomes.”
